Bryan Fuller Tapped For 'Carrie' Remake

Former Voyager writer-producer Bryan Fuller has been attached to NBC's remake of horror writer Stephen King's novel 'Carrie,' it was announced yesterday.

The network has ordered an adaptation of the novel to serve as a pilot for either a weekly series or a succession of television movies, Variety reported.

'Carrie' is part of NBC's plan to use recognisable 'brand-name' franchises to entice viewers, with a remake of the 1960s series Lost in Space also in the works.

"Not only do we get a good pop-culture movie that fits into our strategy, we also have the ability to take it further," said NBC's head of reality programming Jeff Gaspin.

King's novel tells the story of a teenage girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers. Last filmed by director Brian De Palma in 1976, the remake is said to closely follow the plot of the original, but will be set in the present and feature up-to-the-minute special effects.

Although NBC has only ordered a 'Carrie' script so far, executives anticipate a production go-ahead. "We're developing projects with the expectation that we'll produce them," Gaspin said. "It's up to the projects to fail."

This is the second horror genre project for Fuller in as many months. In December, Showtime announced it had ordered a two-hour 'Dead Girl' pilot from the writer with a view to it becoming a weekly series (story).